Archive for April, 2008

Everyone’s brain is wired differently, so we all have our preferences.

Some people learn well on their own, while many blossom and learn much faster when they have a personal teacher.

Which describes you?

People also have different ways of being motivated to take action.

Some people can buy an ebook, devour it in an hour, and a few hours later have the information in action. Aren’t you jealous!?!

Others thrive when they have someone to answer their questions, get past roadblocks, and TAKE ACTION.

Taking action is the most important part of the equation.

Many people have been collecting information, reading countless ebooks, spending about a gazillion hours on the web trying to figure out how to start your own eBay / online business, but have not made a single penny!

Does that sound like you?

Don’t worry… You’re not alone. It CAN be overwhelming.

I’ve seen that with PlatinumPowerSeller.com. I’ve literally helped tens of thousands of people to start and grow an eBay / Online business through my ebook / CD/ DVD training.

But through countless emails, phone calls, and conversations, I’ve learned that many people need more.

For a few years I’ve wanted to fill that need, but since I like to sleep, be with my family, and cannot figure out a way to cram more then 24 hours in a day, it is impossible for me to personally training more then a handful of people.

I knew I needed to come up with something better, and have been working at it for a while now.

For training to work, the following are very important requirements:

Training has to be tailored to meet each individual’s needs.

Training has to be tailored to meet each individuals business goals.

Selling physical product on eBay is ONLY ONE WAY of creating a successful online business. My trainers can help you do that plus lay down a growth path.

eBay should NOT be your only stream of income. My trainers will help you create additional profit streams of income through the methods that best match you and your circumstances.

This Is NOT For Everyone

Although I have put together a great team, it would be impossible for us to give the time and attention to everyone.

If you are not willing to seriously apply yourself, then this isn’t for you.

How To Find Out If This Training Is For You

If you are willing to invest your time and energy, and apply yourself then this training could be for you.

If you are overwhelmed trying to figure this all out yourself then this training could be for you.

If you want to be able to pick up the phone and have a personal member of your team quickly answer your question instead of spending many pain staking hours searching on your own then this training could be for you.

Are you ready to succeed?

Then go check out MikeEnosCoaching.com and see how you can schedule a no charge, no obligation interview with one of my specialists. We’ll discuss your needs, goals, circumstances, business desires, and answer all your questions.

For those who are unaware, we “Northeasters” have a tendency to be obsessive about our weather. Still, I must be part plant, because when it’s warm and sunny I just have so much more energy.

That’s especially appreciated since I’m weaning myself off coffee. Actually, it’s not that I drink too much coffee. I only have 2 cups of a day. But my “cup” is a stainless steel mug that swallows 5 cups of java, so actually I’ve been drinking about 10 cups a day.

Now that winter is over, I need to shed off the extra hibernation weight I put on. I’m doing the Atkins diet, which works well with me, but only works if I remove ALL caffeine from coursing through my veins.

Hint: If you have been drinking 10 cups of coffee a day for a while, BELIEVE ME… you probably don’t want to quit cold-turkey

I’m almost completely off caffeine and I’m pleasantly surprised at how much energy I have today.

Hence a much robust newsletter.

We have lots to go over this week, so let’s get started!

VERY IMPORTANT EBAY WORKSHOP

First, everyone needs to know about an important workshop that eBay is having FRIDAY April 11, at 2pm PST

Topic: eBay Workshop: Make eBay’s New Digital Download Policy Work For YouHost: eBay Staff Date: Friday 04/11 Time: 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Pacific time Location:Workshop BoardDescription: The recent change in the Digital Download policy has many sellers of items delivered by download confused and concerned about the viability of their businesses on eBay. Have no fear! Sellers of “delivery by download” merchandise now have an excellent opportunity to adjust their selling and marketing to increase their visibility and their potential sales. Brian Burke and Jim Griffith with be available during this workshop to provide tips and advice to all sellers of downloadable media on a range of related topics including:

Exploring and highlighting the policy details

Taking full advantage of the Classified Ad format

Utilizing effective marketing and promotion of your content items

Offering content on physical media to boost sales

How to make sure your all you digital content listings are in full compliance with eBay policy

Since eBay made their announcement banning digital products in regular auctions, without having clarified several policies, things have become chaotic! It has also made a lot of problems with classified ads policies too.

Hopefully the workshop will settle a lot of issues.

Keep tuned, I’ll let you know what gets discussed.

Cool Geek Discovery Of The Week.

I’ve been a geek forever, even before it was cool to be one!

So I still like Geeky things. This one is real handy to know about.

It’s a site that measures the speed of your internet connection, both downloading and uploading and displays it in a cool graph like you see below.

Yes, you should be jealous of my ultra fast connection.

The speed says I can download over 2 megabytes per second and upload about 230,000 bytes (about 4 seconds for 1 megabyte)

Does your online experience seem slow? Find out if your ISP (Internet Service Provider) is to blame.

Are you good at making items with your hands? Do you sew, paint, sculpt, knit, etc…?

Would you like to be able to sell your works of art to people who will gush over your product while simultaneously throwing money at you and begging you to immediately tell them when you list a new item?

Sweet!

This is actually happening on a very cool auction website. The site is called Etsy, and is taking the world by storm. It’s the 1858th most popular site in the world according to Alexa.com, and it’s growing like crazy.

Why?

Some call it Social networking, others call it community. It’s an environment for like minded people to visit and mingle.

I know A LOT of former eBay sellers who have abandoned eBay for Etsy. When I ask why, there are a myriad of replies. Some are:

eBay would delete their auctions without explanation. For example, if someone buys a designer’s fabric and makes a pocketbook from it, and includes that designer’s name in the description, they never knew if their listing would be shut down and they would have to fight once again with the “forces that be” to have it relisted.

Another reason are the fees. It cost just 20 cents for each item listed (no matter what the selling price is) and it is listed for 4 months. When you sell the item, you pay Etsy a simple 3.5% sales fee.

My sister Lisa is a very active member there. She is extremely talented and makes some of the most beautiful handbags around. (Check out Lisa’s beautiful hand crafted works posted on Etsy here)

Another really cool thing about Etsy is that they allow people to vote for their favorite sellers.

How would you like to build your fan base and have your own groupies?

We’re talking people who LOVE to compliment your work, buy your work, mark it as their favorite, and tell their friends.

Lisa has a fan base of over 1107, and it continues to grows FAST. (She gained 8 more on Thursday)

The result? Your fans can’t wait for your next item to come out so they can buy it, and add it to their collection.

Ka-Ching!

What a GREAT way for all you starving artists to become rich and famous, and have people “ooh an ahh” over your work!

When I speak with someone who is on Etsy, they get so excited and go on and on about how much they love Etsy.

eBay used to evoke the same response.

I Remember When eBay Was Loved.

I can remember when mention of eBay received the same response. :-(

Etsy seems to be doing all it can to attract and care for it’s SELLERS, and build a community of individuals, people with life, not soulless corporate entities hiding behind fancy logos. eBay has really gone off track with that.

While they continue to focus on getting more buyers to shop at eBay (a good thing), they seem to want those buyers to only see the BIG BOY sellers, and not the individual Mom & Pop sellers that made eBay what it is today. The passionate, eclectic, and always interesting group of sellers which made shopping at eBay a fun experience. The result is that eBay is morphing into the online equivalent of a typical boring American shopping mall. You know what I mean… Same stores, same product, different town.

eBay used to have that sense of community, although I think it was not of their own making. In the early days, I think eBay wisely (and successfully) sat back as the moms and pops built this wonderful place for buyers and sellers to meet. A place where sellers were able to make extra money, leave their 9 to 5 job and be home with their family. It was an amazing place that just buzzed with positive energy! A place where buyers could have fun hunting for bargains and unique items, sellers could have their own profitable online business. All was good.

Yes, at times eBay had to interfere and slap some hands or sometimes heads ;-), but that’s fine. It IS important to keep the environment safe both for buyers and or sellers. That’s what eBay’s main job was. Keep the town inviting, friendly, and safe so the “tourists” would keep coming to visit.

Were some mistakes made? Sure.

Were some hands wrongly slapped, or slapped too hard? Sure.

That’s understandable, and some quick math shows it’s impossible for it NOT to happen. If you have a million transactions a day, and you are 99.99% perfect, you’re still going to slap either the wrong hand (or head) 100 times made each day.

But that’s not what I’m getting at.

A Plea To eBay

Now eBay, PLEASE do not read this wrong. Don’t think of me as a complainer, but as someone who cares enough about eBay to speak up to an 800lb gorilla, even at the risk of ostracism, or “kill the messenger syndrome”.

eBay has changed my life so much. It has not only allowed me to have a full time business that I run from my home, but it has also allowed me to assist tens of thousands of people to better their lives by helping them start and grow their own eBay business.

Yet with knowledge comes responsibility! As someone in the position of a “clearing house” of information, I hear from people involved in “eBay world” at many different levels. Whether I speak with a small indvidiual seller, owner of a larger seller business, or one of the CEOs from an eBay service related corporation, the news is not good. Being so heavily involved in eBay outside it’s corporate walls puts me in a unique situation of hearing candid comments, whispered facts, and viewpoints from the people in the trenches that paint a not to rosy picture about eBay’s direction, tactics, methods, and future.

eBay was built by small sellers. Mom and Pops who discovered that eBay was an incredibly easy and exciting way to make money right from home!

Every eBay seller can fondly recall the excitement of returning home, and running to our computer to see what we sold while we were gone. :-)

Believe me… Making money while running errands, or away from home NEVER get’s old!

If you stop and think about it… eBay allowed more Moms to be home with their family then ever before possible. For some, it even allowed both parents to have a fulltime business from home that the family could do together!

Of course not everyone wanted to start a full time eBay business. Some stay at home eBayers just wanted to be able to replace a part time income while caring for the children. Other eBayers would just sell off items to make some extra money for a car, vacation, or for a myriad of other reasons.

What kind of business allows you to start for almost nothing and grow it to whatever level works for you? Only eBay! That was AWESOME!

Having the different level of Powersellers was a fantastic idea! It encouraged Mom & Pop sellers that if they worked hard and smart, they COULD do the same.

…And they did.

In the early days eBay seemed so intent on helping their small sellers.

But lately, it seems eBay is intent on doing all they can to get RID of their small sellers, and keep the big sellers.

Let me explain…

Now I understand that eBay is a business, and it requires a lot of resources to run a business, especially if you have a lot of customers (sellers) to support. It’s much easier to support one big seller who moves $1,000,000 a month in contrast to 1000 Mom & Pop sellers who move $1000 a month.

I would guess that most of the hassles , ie… fraud, buyer complaints, policy problems, etc… are attributed to small sellers. (I can almost see the pie chart presentation pointing that out.)

On the surface that generalization might seem accurate, but let’s look at it a different way.

For someone to become a profitable big seller on eBay, they MUST have great systems, great resources, great product, great service, and great skill. They also must BE a professional business if they prefer to not implode, and not end up bankrupt.

Of course every time a BIG seller does crash, there are tons of messes to clean up.

The point is this: Odds are a trouble maker seller will be in the mom & pop category, rather then the BIG seller category.

Yet the bulk of Mom & Pop sellers are NOT trouble makers, so why punish them and chase them out?

eBay’s policy actions sure seem to be going in that direction.

Raising fees to everyone, but only giving rebates to powersellers sure looks like your shooing them away.

Not allowing people to sell digital products in auctions sure seems that way. Are people selling digital junk through eBay? Sure… there will be digital junk just as their is physical product that is junk!

Isn’t the purpose of the feedback system to allow potential buyers to make an informed decision on whether or not to buy from their seller, and even check feedback left by others who have bought the same product (either digital or physical)?

Then why discriminate against all digital products?

In the announcement banning digital items it was stated “Digital goods are often reproduced at little to no cost to the seller”. I know many people who are given items or who buy items to resell at eBay for little to no cost. What’s the difference? Why are these allowed?

Is it because of feedback manipulation? Exactly, what does that mean? If an item does not need to be boxed and shipped does that mean it’s less of a transaction?

If the buyer and seller exchange money and product, and give good feedback to each other whether the product is a digital or physical product, isn’t that a transaction?

If I were to sell an item for 1 cent and ship it for 43 cents, would that be more deserving of a feedback transaction then a $1.00 digital product?

This logic seems inconsistent.

Let’s look at it this way: If Bob buys a $1000 item, and Sue buys a $100 item, shouldn’t Bob’s feedback score increase 10 Times more then Sue since his transaction was 10X bigger?

Not all digital products are junk. While reproduction costs may be low, PRODUCTION costs can be rather high both in time, effort, and expense.

Are digital products really causing problems being in the regular auction section?

If someone does decide to sell a piece of junk ebook, won’t the feedback system quickly get the person to stop selling it.

My Point?

While it gets more and more difficult for small sellers to compete with big sellers by selling physical product on eBay, digital products are an area where a mom & pop seller CAN compete, deliver a quality product to a happy buyer, and make a decent profit.

This deduction comes from knowing the #1 problem faced by sellers… EXCESS COMPETITION.

When dozens of sellers are marketing the same wholesale product that can easily be price researched based on it’s SKU, or ISBN number, there is no way of avoiding the extreme price competition.

But, when a seller can produce his own digital product that can’t directly be compared with another, then the extreme price competition that is roadblocking a seller’s profits can be removed.

This is something many small sellers are doing, simply because profitably selling physical product no longer works for them.

eBay can you rethink this policy for the sake of your small sellers?

Classified Ads.

The same announcement that banned digital items from eBay auctions said they had to be sold to through classified ads.

Yet I’ve heard MANY reports of sellers getting their classified ads shut down for doing that.

eBay, PLEASE define your classified ad policies so that interpretation is not randomly made by various eBay employees, and so sellers can effectively use them.

Classified ads are a FABULOUSLY great idea! Just check the 70th most popular site in the WORLD, Craig’s list It’s all about posting FREE classified ads. I recently sold a car on it and paid zero listing fees and zero final value fees. My friend sold his motorcycle in 1 hour on Craig’s list! Craig’s list is incredible!

Craig’s list is real competition to eBay’s classified ads.

But eBay, sellers would be willing to pay $10 a month for an eBay classified ad even knowing that Craig’s list is free. Why not give them the flexibility to do what they want with it, just like Craig’s list does for FREE?

Let people sell digital products.

Let sellers include as many links as they want.

Let sellers collect names to build a newsletter list.

Let sellers use classified ads as a traffic source for their own website, affiliate products, etc..

Every day I have people unsubscribe from my newsletter list. Each time they go, I ask them to type why they are unsubscribing. So often I hear “I just can’t make eBay work anymore”.

Classified ads have huge potential for sellers, buyers, and a great revenue stream for eBay.

They’ve been around for over 2 years, but many have been afraid to use them because the policy and definition is so undefined. It’s like walking by a rusty bear trap just waiting for it to snap at you and cut off your leg.

Today, I searched for auctions containing the word “the”. I count 13,540,105 regular auctions. Only 6107 (0.0005%) of these are classified ads. Right now they are producing very little revenue for you eBay.

Side point: I couldn’t figure out a way of getting total number of Craig’s list classifieds. But for fun I went to the Boston one and searched on “CD”. Results? 5474 classified ads!Talk about HUGE potential!

Why not make them usable and clearly define what can and can’t be done in writing so more people (especially Mom & Pops) can take advantage of them?

Here is your chance to make eBay a level playing field again.

Classified ads have been floundering for over two years. Why not make them an effective tool for sellers to use?

Why not make them something that your sellers are EXCITED about, not confused, aggravated, and scared.

Why not have the policy so well defined and robust so that the environment can grow and prosper?

The growth potential is HUGE. Not only in comparison with Craig’s list, but also in comparison with Google Adwords and the other pay per click monsters.

People want traffic.

People need traffic.

eBay… Your classified ad could deliver that traffic!

Do Classified Ads right and you could bring the excitement and the love back.

Please think it over.

Highest Regards,

Mike Enos

P.S. To Readers: Please click on the comment link at the bottom of this entry and share what you think

New Website Tool Boosts Sales By 20%-40%

Being both an internet marketer and a computer geek, I’m always interested in finding tools to help me increase traffic and sales.

I’m blown away by a tool just released by my friend Dave Guindon ( a fellow computer programmer)

Now I hate to spend a bunch of time rehashing the same information that you’ll find on his EXCELLENT website.

…But here’s the scoop.

It’s a virtual agent that grabs your visitors attention only if they decide to leave the website and not buy your product.

It can offer them a unique “discount” link, bonus, whatever you want.

His videos show it better then I could ever explain it. The videos also show the documented big increase in sales from using it.

It’s a totally genius idea that works!

I love that you buy it once (at the low introductory price!) and don’t have to pay commissions or additional fees.

I’ve got my copy and you need to go get yours here before the price increase.

Two Thumbs Up!

Man… I wish I had thought of it! ;-)

Great job Dave!

P.S. When you watch the videos, count how many times you think (or say) “Wow!”, “That’s cool”, “Great Idea!”, etc..

Freebie Friday: How To Get More Traffic, Sales, & Profits On eBay.

Last Tuesday night I hosted a live webinar where I explained several ways of increasing your eBay sales and profits. The webinar focuses on tools available to free and paid AuctionTNT members.

The webinar was pretty cool since people could type their questions live.

It kept me on my toes!

Before I share the link to watch the webinar, I want to share a super simple & FREE way of increasing your eBay sales.

One of the tools in AuctionTNT is called “Easy Shortcut Link To Your eBay Auctions”. Have you ever tried to tell someone in person, on the phone, even through email how to find one of your auction items?

Not an easy thing is it? “Click here, look for the link labeled ‘Advanced Search’. Do you see it? No, it’s right there! Are you blind? Are you at eBay.com? Yes, go to eBay.com, just the home page. What do you mean you’re at Google? “

Argggghh… (Sorry, I was just having a flashback) :-)

Being a programmer geek, I knew that had to be a faster, easier, and yes lazier way of sending people to your auctions!

Are you ready?

Say your eBay ID is ‘widgetman’. You can send people to your auctions by sending them to widgetman.auctiontnt.com Now don’t type any ‘http://’ or even ‘www’ stuff.

Nope, it ain’t needed.

Go ahead, try it with your eBay ID in a new browser window. I’ll wait until you get back.

Cool, you’re back. Wasn’t that EASY!

So now that you have an easy way of displaying your auction items, the next logical question is “How Do I Use It?”

How To Get More Traffic Using Easy Shortcut Link

At the bottom of your email include in your signature “See The World’s Best Widgets at widgetman.auctiontnt.com” Of course you’ll want to change that to match your product and audience

On your invoices and thank you notes mention it there.

When you write articles include it as your website.

When you post in forums include it if possible

Make labels that you stick on the outside of the packages you ship.

Be creative and you’ll find more ways.

How To Watch The AuctionTNT Webinar Recording.

In the recorded webinar, you’ll find many additional ways that you can both increase your eBay profits as well as add different income streams to your online business.

When viewing the video, you’ll see a button in the player labeled ‘<<’. Click it will rewind 15 seconds. Clicking on ‘>>’ will fast forward 15 seconds.

Webinars are a great way to teach and learn. At the end of the video you’ll see a link where you can give your feedback and make suggestions for other webinars. Send you email to webinaridea @ auctiontnt.com Subject:Webinar Idea and I’ll see what I can do.

Hey everyone. I’ve been evaluating webinar tools to see which works best for teaching my global audience.

Tonight I’ll be giving a webinar on how AuctionTNT can help you increase your eBay profits and create additional revenue streams.

You do NOT need to be an AuctionTNT member to attend.

In fact, if you are not yet a member, then this is the PERFECT time to attend. You will be offered the best DEAL EVER on an AuctionTNT Platinum membership at the conclusion of the webinar.

Tonight you’ll learn how to use AuctionTNT’s FREE and paid tools to make more money on eBay, bring more traffic (and buyers) to your auction and store items, and how to squash your competition like a bug.

It’s tonight April 8th at 8:30pm EDT (New York Time)

But… here’s the scoop.

The webinar can only handle 100 people, so it’s first come, first served.

Simply fill out the box below, and you’ll get the link with all the login info.

AuctionTNT Profits Webinar

Tuesday, April 8, 2008 8:30pm

To Attend, Enter Your Info Below:

Name:

E-mail Address:

We respect your privacy. We will not rent or share your name or email address with anyone else

What’s really cool is that you do not need your telephone for this webinar. Both audio and video are sent over your internet connection.

Man, what in the world is going on at eBay lately?

First they say you can’t sell digital products in auctions, but that you have to it in classified ads.

Then they start shutting down people’s classified ads that have digital products.

Zoinks! Does the left hand know what the right is doing?

I’m going to attend an eBay radio show, and if you’re interested in classified ads, I suggest you do the same. Here is a snippet of what it’s about:

Special Workshop on Friday April 11 at 2pm Pacific time — Join Brian Burke and host of eBay Radio, Griff for a special workshop on how to use the Classified Ad format to maximize your digital goods business. Please stay tuned for more details on our General Announcements board.

Every time there is a major change at eBay it seems it takes a while for the policys to turn from grey to black and white, and for the dust to settle.

But don’t worry, digital products on eBay ARE NOT dead. Sources tell me that eBay is working on the situation as we speak. Hopefully more will be revealed at the April 11th eBay Radio workshop.

eBay’s Affiliate Program

eBay also brought their affiliate program in house this week on April 1st. It has been on Commission Junction (CJ.com) for a long time and has run fairly well using their system.

I do a lot with their affiliate program so I told my programmer to get started switching us over.

The problem is their link creation tools do not work, and it doesn’t seem like impressions are even being tracked. (Chances are if impressions aren’t being tracked, then sales aren’t either!)

To make matters worse, bugs have to be reported by sending a “blind email” (no support ticket system) or by posting a gripe on a forum board.

And BELIEVE ME… There are a lot of gripes out there!

Hopefully it’s growing pains, but c’mon eBay, you can do better then that!

Here is a link to their updated issues concerning the eBay Partner Network.

According to CJ.com:

Here are some answers to key questions about eBayÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s affiliate program and how it relates to CJ publishers:

Will the migration affect payment? CJ publishers will be paid as usual through CJ for their eBay activity through April 30, 2008. The final eBay commissions will be paid through CJ in the May payout.

Can I still apply to eBay? No, the eBay programs are not accepting applications at this time.

How do I apply to ebay now? Beginning April 1, please visit eBay’s affiliate site for more information on applications to the eBay programs.

Who do I turn to for ebay support? Beginning April 1, all support information will be at eBay’s affiliate site.

How will link tracking be effected? Should I take down my links or when will they stop tracking? Beginning April 1, information regarding links will be available eBay’s affiliate site. Current links will stop tracking and need to be replaced by May 1.

My advice is sit tight for a few weeks, and let them iron out the bugs before doing anything.

RESELL RIGHTS - 12 Killer Dropship SECRETS

For the longest time I’ve been telling my readers that you need to have MULTIPLE streams of income for your online business. Solely relying on selling physical product on eBay is a great way of ending up with a basket of broken eggs.

Really, I’m not ‘yolking’ around! :-)

You need to have your own website especially if you are selling digital products.

That’s one of the fantastic tools you get as an AuctionTNT Gold or Platinum member.

You can quickly and easily upload and start selling your own digital products. Whether you wrote an ebook, have digital photos, your own music… anything digital.

But you say…. “Mike I don’t have anything to sell, can you help?”

Oh yeah… Check this out!

We have a added a Resell Rights section to the shopping cart where we plan to keep adding very hot and profitable products.

You simply select the product you want to sell, pay the registration fee, and bingo-bango-boingo, it’s magically added to your AuctionTNT shopping cart, ready to sell!

Is that sweet or what?

But wait… It get’s better.

You get to keep 100% of the profits for EVERY sale! AuctionTNT does NOT charge you “final value fees”

Some products we sell will be available to all AuctionTNT paid members, while some are VERY limited.

12 Killer Dropshipping SECRETS For eBay Sellers is a fabulously popular ebook. It has been read by people circling the globe and still a hot product!

FREEBIE FRIDAY - Free Webinar On Increasing eBay / Online Profits

I’ve got a really cool Freebie Friday, but I might need to call it a “Marvelous Monday”.

..I’ll explain why.

I’ve been wanting to do an AuctionTNT webinar to explain to my readers how they can make money by using it’s tools.

We are making it better and better at a rapid pace.

And we’re just beginning.

I’m evaluating a new webinar hosting tool, and figured what better way then by doing a live webinar.

Here’s what makes it cool.

Most tele-seminars or webinars force you to dial a long distance number. Many of my readers are from outside the USA, and this can be cost prohibitive. The webinar tool I’m investigating also allows people to use voice over the internet.

You’ll be able to watch me demonstrate all the profit making features of AuctionTNT and have your questions answered live.